PUTNAM 
A  Sermon. 


REV.  GEORGE  PUTNAM'S 


1846. 


SERMON 

DELIVERED    HE  FORE 

HIS  EXCELLENCY  GEORGE  N.  BRIGGS, 

GOVERNOR, 

HIS  HONOR  JOHN  REED, 

LIEUTENANT    GOVERNOR, 

THE    HONORABLE    COUNCIL, 

AI»D 

THE    LEGISLATURE    OF   MASSACHUSETTS, 

AT 

THE  ANNUAL  ELECTION, 

WEDNESDAY,   JAN.   7,   1846. 


BY    GEORGE    PUTNAM, 

Minister  of  the  First  Church  in  Roxbury. 


Boston: 

DUTTON    AND    WENTWORTH,    PRINTERS   TO   THB   STATE, 

1846. 


LIBRARY 
UNIVERSITY  OF  CA 

SANTA 


COMMONWEALTH  OF  MASSACHUSETTS. 


HOUSE  OF  REPRESENTATIVES,  January  8, 1846. 

Ordered,  That  Messrs.  Page  of  New  Bedford,  Seaver  of  Boston,  and  Jones  of 
Roxbury,  be  a  Committee  to  present  the  thanks  of  the  House  of  Representatives  to 
the  Rev.  GEORGE  PUTNAM,  D.  D.,  for  the  Discourse  yesterday  delivered  by  him 
before  the  Government  of  the  Commonwealth,  and  to  request  a  copy  thereof  for  the 
press. 

CHAS.  W.  STOREY,  Clerk. 


SERMON. 


CXIX  Psalm,  46. 

I    WILL    SPEAK    OF   THY   TESTIMONIES   ALSO   BEFORE    KINGS,    AND 
WILL   NOT    BE   ASHAMED. 

THE  Legislators  and  highest  Magistrates  of  the 
State  have  come  up  to  the  Sanctuary,  as  their  pre- 
decessors have  done  yearly  for  more  than  two  centu- 
ries, to  own  the  sovereignty  of  the  righteous  God, 
and  to  seek  his  blessing  and  guidance  for  themselves 
and  for  the  people  whose  public  interests  have  been 
entrusted  to  them.  It  is  an  appropriate  observance  ; 
and  we  trust  that  so  goodly  a  spectacle  in  outward 
appearance  expresses  the  intent  of  the  heart.  It 
is  the  Commonwealth,  *as  represented  by  its  civil 
functionaries,  acknowledging  its  religious  depend- 
ence and  obligations.  The  occasion  furnishes  its 
own  topic ;  one  which,  in  some  of  its  aspects  and 
applications,  1  suppose  has  been  accepted  by  all  my 
predecessors  in  this  service,  and  which  I  have  no 


ambition  to  change  for  any  more  novel  but  less  ap- 
propriate one.  That  topic  is, — The  connexion  be- 
tween the  Religious  and  the  Secular  Interests  of  the 
Commonwealth.  In  considering  this  connexion,  there 
is  no  occasion  to  raise  the  old  distracted  question  of 
Church  and  State.  That  question  we  are  happily 
rid  of.  It  has  vexed  the  nations  of  Christendom 
since  the  time  of  Constantine,  and,  under  other 
names,  before  that  time.  Through  many  centuries, 
it  has  provoked  almost  continuous  wars,  and  drenched 
the  earth  in  blood.  It  has  bred  revolutions  and 
changed  dynasties.  It  has  been  the  matter  of  chief 
concern  to  statesmen  and  ecclesiastics  alike ;  a  chief 
subject  of  cabal  in  courts,  and  of  agitation  among  the 
masses  of  mankind.  It  has  brought  princes  to  the 
block,  and  peopled  wildernesses  with  exiles.  And 
the  question  is  not  at  rest  now.  It  is  still  mixed  up 
with  all  the  politics  of  the  Old  World.  There  is 
hardly  a  government  in  Europe  that  is  not  at  this 
moment  sorely  perplexed  by  it,  hardly  a  community 
that  is  not  more  or  less  violently  convulsed  by  it, 
hardly  an  empire  whose  political  destiny  may  not  be 
said  to  be  involved  in  the  issues  of  it.  But  that 
question  of  Church  and  State  does  not  trouble  us. 
That  problem  has  been  fully  solved  here.  The 
Church  survives,  and  the  State  survives,  but  there  is 


no  political  connexion  between  them.  They  are 
bound  up  together  indissolubly  in  the  heart  of  the 
people,  but  without  collision  or  embarrassment.  The 
Church  receives  no  support  from  the  State,  and  yet 
the  Church  prospers.  The  State  imposes  no  reli- 
gion, constrains  no  man's  conscience,  does  not  hold 
itself  responsible  for  forms  of  faith  or  modes  of  wor- 
ship, and  yet  the  State  stands  more  secure  in  its  civil 
stability  than  if  it  did. 

In  this  Commonwealth,  nothing  remains  to  be  set- 
tled respecting  the  relations  of  Church  and  State 
considered  as  institutions.  There  is  no  occasion  to 
discuss  them.  But  the  connexion  between  religion 
and  all  the  substantial  interests  of  the  body  politic, 
claims  consideration  everywhere,  and  nowhere  more 
than  in  Massachusetts.  That  connexion  has  been 
vital  here,  and  is  so  still.  Massachusetts  was  the 
child  of  Christianity.  She  was  cradled  in  the  storm- 
tossed  Mayflower,  and  was  baptized  in  fire  and  flood, 
in  danger,  gloom  and  suffering  at  the  Rock  of  Ply- 
mouth. I  know  not  what  other  State  on  earth  has 
been  so  distinctly  founded  in  Christian  faith  and 
principle  as  ours.  The  origin  of  this  Commonwealth 
was  characterized,  in  a  degree  wholly  unexampled, 
by  heroic  enterprise  and  endurance,  undertaken  and 
borne  for  conscience  sake,  in  devout  earnestness,  in 


8 

the  strength  of  prayer,  in  the  invincibility  of  faith, 
and  in  unreserved,  unwavering  and  all-sacrificing  de- 
votion to  the  truth  of  Christ  and  the  righteousness 
of  God.  Not  a  reckless  spirit  of  adventure  or  of 
conquest,  not  the  expectation  of  riches,  luxury  or 
renown,  brought  our  fathers  hither  ;  but  at  the  cost 
of  every  thing  which  the  worldly  heart  holds  dear 
and  desirable  in  outward  things,  they  came,  because 
with  all  their  hearts  they  did  believe  in  God  and  the 
Gospel,  and  would  have  a  place  wherein  they  might 
worship  and  live  as  they  believed,  though  it  were  an 
ice-bound  rock  and  a  howling  wilderness — would  have 
such  a  place,  and  plant  their  children  in  it,  or  starve 
and  perish  in  the  attempt.  There  was  character  in 
this.  No  State  has  had  such  a  Christian  founding. 
There  is  the  stamp  of  truest  greatness  on  our  origin. 
We  have  the  privilege  and  responsibility  of  illustri- 
ous descent.  If  a  people  had  power  to  choose  or 
change  their  own  ancestry,  our  Commonwealth,  J 
think,  should  hold  on  to  hers,  against  all  the  world, 
from  the  flood  unto  this  hour. 

The  Christian  spirit  and  faith  of  the  founders  have 
given  a  Christian  tone  to  the  Massachusetts  mind 
through  the  whole  period  of  her  histor^  The  peo- 
ple, as  a  people,  have  ever  loved  and  honored  the 
faith,  the  principles  and  the  institutions  of  that  Gos- 


pel,  the  love  of  which  brought  their  fathers  hither. 
Ours  has  been  from  the  first  as  eminently  a  Christian 
State  as  the  world  ever  saw.  The  original  influence 
has  never  died  out.  Other  elements  have  come  in, 
many  and  fast,  to  overlay  it,  but  it  was  vital  and  has 
mixed  with  and  modified  them  all.  That  early 
Christian  element  has  been  the  chief  root  of  what 
we  call  the  New  England  character.  Other  favoring 
circumstances  have  cooperated,  but  that  preemi- 
nently has  been  at  the  bottom  of  all  those  charac- 
teristics which  are  our  strength  and  our  glory — 
characteristics  which  our  Commonwealth,  as  the  eld- 
est of  the  New  England  family,  has  early  and  late 
done  not  a  little  to  impart  to  her  neighboring  sisters — 
characteristics,  too,  which  she  has  sent  abroad  west- 
ward in  the  breasts,  in  the  habits,  in  the  beliefs  of 
the  numerous  little  colonial  companies  that  have  been 
ever  going  forth  from  her  borders  to  people  new  re- 
gions. 1  cannot  take  time  to  describe  those  charac- 
teristics, and  there  is  no  need  of  it.  'They  present 
themselves  more  or  less  definitely  to  the  mind  as 
soon  as  referred  to.  The  very  worldliness  of  this 
people  has  had  something  of  the  old  Puritan  stamp 
on  it.  That  indomitable  energy  of  will,  and  steady 
persistence  of  purpose,  which,  in  the  Pilgrim  Fathers, 
was  born  of  Christian  faith,  and  was  as  the  power 
2 


10 

of  God  in  their  souls,  is  energy  and  persistence  still, 
though  directed  to  different  ends.  The  zeal  for  edu- 
cation and  diffusive  intelligence,  which  glowed  in  the 
breasts  of  the  Fathers,  whereby  they  and  their  chil- 
dren might  understand  God's  word  and  will,  still 
operates,  though  seeking  more  various  directions  and 
ends,  which  they  deemed  quite  secondary. 

It  would  be  narrow  and  ungracious  to  make  invid- 
ious comparisons  with  other  parts  of  the   country  or 
the  world,  but  surely  it  is  no   more  than   loyal  and 
just  to  appreciate  and  rejoice  in  those  traits  of  cha- 
racter and  condition  to  which  our  State   has  owed 
her  prosperity,  power  and  fame,  the  well  ordering  of 
her  affairs,  the  freedom  and  stability  of  her  institu- 
tions, and  all  the  goodliness  of  her  outward  aspect 
and  her  inner  health.     There  is  many  a  stain  on  her 
garments,  many  a  sin  in  her  heart,  many  a  danger  in 
her  horizon,  and  there  are  fit  times   to  consider  and 
deplore  these  things  ;  but  let  any  sober  and  Chris- 
tian man  of  us  go  travel  the  world  over,   and  then 
come  back  and  say  if  he  can,  that  it  has  fared  ill 
with  him  to  have  had  his  birthplace  and  abiding-place 
appointed  within  these  borders.   Whoso  loves  Massa- 
chusetts, and  will  trace  back  her  history  to  the  begin- 
ning,  and  mark  well    the  sequences  of  cause  and 
effect  in  the  formation  of  her  character  and  the  pro- 


11 

gress  of  her  fortunes,  shall  own  that  it  is  as  being 
Christian  born  and  Christian  bred,  that  she  is  what 
she  is,  and  has  done  what  she  has  done.  The  con- 
nexion between  Christianity  and  the  visible  condition 
and  interests  of  a  people,  is  no  mere  matter  of  ab- 
stract reasoning  in  reference  to  this  Commonwealth. 

And  now,  in  what  remains  of  this  discourse,  1  wish 
to  consider  the  necessity  of  still  recognizing  and 
maintaining  that  connexion.  1  will  not  go  into  a 
general  discussion  to  show  how  essential  to  the  well- 
being  of  mankind  at  large,  is  that  spiritual  life  and 
moral  elevation  which  Christianity  imparts.  We 
will  have  in  mind  now  only  our  own  State.  Massa- 
chusetts must  retain,  renew  and  reinvigorate  the 
Christian  element  of  her  character,  or  else  she  can- 
not continue  to  be  the  same  State,  whose  founders 
we  revere,  whose  history  we  glory  in,  whose  very 
hills  we  filially  love,  and  whose  name  is  named  with 
honor  throughout  the  civilized  world.  She  must  be 
Christian  Massachusetts,  Christian  in  name  and  in 
spirit,  in  faith  and  in  principle,  or  she  will  not  con- 
tinue the  dear  mother  that  bore  us.  She  cannot 
flourish  without  her  religion.  If  she  let  go  her  hold 
of  the  ark  of  the  Lord,  her  prosperity  will  cease  in 
her  borders,  and  her  crown  will  fall  from  her  brow. 


12 

1  know  what  a  miserable  plea  it  is  for  religion,  to 
urge  its  favorable  bearings  upon  temporal  and  pub- 
lic welfare.  I  know  how  little,  how  less  than  nothing, 
the  cause  of  religion  gains  by  any  demonstration 
of  the  identity  of  its  principles  with  a  good  selfish 
policy,  whether  public  or  private.  Religion  is  never 
born  of  calculation,  never  originates  in  a  view  to  its 
worldly  uses.  It  springs  from  an  independent  and 
a  deeper  source.  The  renewing  spirit  of  God  comes 
not  to  bodies  politic,  as  such  ;  it  comes,  when  it 
comes,  to  individual  souls,  as  such.  Religion  does 
not  reveal  its  worldly  benefits,  till  it  has  first  filled 
and  uplifted  the  individual  mind  with  hopes,  aspira- 
tions and  interests,  more  enduring  than  states  or 
empires,  and  immeasurably  surpassing  the  magni- 
tude of  all  the  interests  that  involve  their  fate.  Our 
fathers  did  not  become  Christians  in  order  that  they 
might  qualify  themselves  to  be  the  founders  of  a 
great  and  well-ordered  Commonwealth ;  but  they 
founded  such  a  Commonwealth  because  they  had 
first  become  Christians  for  the  love  of  God  and  the 
salvation  of  their  souls.  They  were  earnest  believ- 
ers, and  were  conscious  of  the  divine  Spirit  witness- 
ing to  their  own  spirits,  and  therefore  they  were 
qualified  to  lay  the  foundations,  deep  and  solid,  for  a 
strong  and  happy  State.  And  now,  no  patriotism 


13 

can  make  men  religious,  but  religion,  springing  from 
its  own  legitimate  fountain,  would  make  them  patri- 
ots. It  would  be  absurd  to  call  on  the  present  gen- 
eration to  be  more  religious,  in  order  that  their  reli- 
gion may  subserve  the  well  being  of  the  State. — 
Nevertheless,  it  cannot  be  amiss  for  us,  if  it  were 
only  as  lookers-on,  the  disinterested  investigators  of 
affairs,  to  consider  how  much  the  high  prospects  of 
the  State  depend  upon  the  continued  and  extended 
prevalence  of  the  Christian  element,  and  how  sacred 
is  the  duty  to  promote  its  prevalence  by  all  the 
means  appropriate  to  our  several  spheres  of  action 
and  influence. 

In  looking  abroad  over  the  State,  the  most  dis- 
tinguishing feature  in  its  outward  aspect,  is  its  Pros- 
perity. It  is  not  a  new  feature,  but  it  becomes  more 
and  more  marked  and  prominent.  It  is  a  progressive 
prosperity.  There  are  occasional  pauses  and  reac- 
tions, as  there  must  needs  be ;  but  the  general  move 
ment  is  forward,  a  strong  and  steady  movement. 
There  is  growth  in  this  world's  resources  everywhere 
manifest.  You  see  the  signs  of  it,  nay,  the  thing 
itself,  wherever  you  turn, — on  the  seaboard  and  in- 
land, by  the  waterfalls,  in  the  very  gorges  of  the 
mountains,  in  the  shop  of  the  mechanic,  and  the 


14 

fields  of  the  husbandman,  in  the  stately  structures 
of  the  city,  in  the  elegance  of  our  villages,  in  the 
magnificence  that  betokens  individual  wealth,  and  the 
air  of  comfort  that  invests  the  humblest  conditions  of 
society.  Industry,  steady,  unwearied,  universal,  pur- 
sued with  a  sagacity,  a  thrift,  a  persistency  and  a  suc- 
cess never  and  nowhere  surpassed,  has  wrought  great 
results  already,  and  has  established  for  itself  a  van- 
tage-ground from  which,  to  all  human  foresight,  its 
power  is  to  achieve  yet  greater  attainments.  Never 
was  there  a  more  substantial  or  more  legitimate 
worldly  prosperity.  And  who  can  be  so  sullen  or  so 
captious  as  not  to  rejoice  in  it  ?  Every  man  with  a 
sound  heart  in  him,  is  animated  and  cheered  by  the 
sight  and  the  foresight.  By  all  the  sympathies  that 
join  heart  to  heart,  and  by  the  gratitude  we  owe  for 
the  blessings  of  God,  we  are  bound  to  be  glad.  But 
such  prosperity  is  not  an  absolute  and  unconditional 
good.  It  brings  its  own  perils.  Prosperity,  no  less 
than  adversity,  opens  a  way  to  ruin,  a  broad  way, 
and  many  there  be,  both  of  States  and  individuals, 
that  go  in  thereat.  Prosperity  always  brings  with  it 
the  elements  of  its  own  decay,  and  requires  some- 
thing better  than  itself  to  preserve  it.  It  does  not 
bring  with  it  its  own  safeguards.  Perhaps  no  people 
has  ever  risen  to  a  condition  of  continuous,  substan- 


15 

tial  and  well  diffused  prosperity,  without  a  basis  of 
such  virtues  as  bear  something  of  the  Christian  stamp, 
whatever  may  have  been  their  origin.  But  when 
that  condition  is  attained,  there  is  always  a  tendency 
to  let  those  virtues  die  out.  Steady  industry,  frugal- 
ity, temperance,  justice,  moderation,  perseverance, 
are  virtues  that  tend  to  produce  prosperity.  But 
prosperity,  when  attained,  tends  to  undermine  those 
very  virtues,  and  thus  to  take  away  greater  blessings 
than  it  brings — to  take  away,  indeed,  the  very  foot- 
hold on  which  alone  itself  can  maintain  itself.  The 
growth  and  progress  that  attend  a  prosperous  career, 
are  engrossing  and  exhilarating.  They  are  apt  to 
engross  the  affections  and  aspirations  of  an  individ- 
ual and  a  community.  External  blessings  become 
the  objects  of  reliance  for  well  being  and  enjoyment. 
Money-making,  commercial  thrift,  the  improvement 
of  mechanic  arts,  the  multiplying  of  our  numbers, 
the  development  of  our  resources, — these  are  le- 
gitimate objects  of  interest  and  pursuit ;  but  as  they 
become  more  and  more  exciting  and  absorbing  in  the 
progress  of  a  prosperous  career,  they  tend  to  keep 
out  or  put  out  the  spiritual  and  moral  element  from 
the  soul  of  a  people.  Worldliness,  rife  as  it  is  likely 
to  be  among  a  prosperous  people,  unless  influences 
of  another  character  and  from  another  source  inter- 


16 

vene,  leads  to  an  apathetic  atheism,  to  a  low,  self- 
seeking,  uninspired  animalism,  an  unwritten  creed  of 
worldliness,  in  which  prudence  is  the  highest  virtue, 
and  personal  aggrandizement  and  comfort  the  highest 
good.  It  is  the  creed  of  mammonism — a  creed, 
that  as  it  works  itself  into  the  heart  of  the  people, 
brings  forth  its  legitimate  and  inevitable  fruits  of 
sensuality  and  moral  depravation.  It  is  a  creed,  a 
state  of  public  feeling  and  thought,  that  renders  sel- 
fishness intense,  and  produces  wide  chasms  between 
the  rich  and  poor.  It  weakens  the  principle  of  in- 
tegrity. It  fosters  luxury  and  the  sensual  vices.  It 
enervates  the  will,  it  emasculates  the  mind.  It  de- 
stroys those  energies  and  brings  down  that  elevation 
of  character  by  which  alone  a  people  can  have  risen 
to  a  strong  position  of  prosperity.  Mammon  is  a  god, 
who  is  sure  to  betray  and  ruin  his  own  votaries. 

These  are  the  tendencies  and  dangers  of  prosper- 
ity. And  they  are  not  the  dreams  of  the  pulpit,  but 
realities  written  out  distinctly  in  all  history.  They 
have  been  at  the  bottom  of  national  decay  and  ruin, 
since  the  world  has  stood.  For  one  state  or  empire 
that  has  fallen  through  sheer  adversity,  or  the  hand 
of  violence  from  abroad,  tens  and  hundreds  have 
perished,  because  prosperity  had  sapped  the  ener- 
gies and  gangrened  the  heart  of  their  people,  and 


17 

made  them  unfit  to  cumber  the  earth ;  and  so  God 
in  his  righteousness  has  brought  them  down 
and  swept  them  away.  Our  tendencies  and  our 
dangers  lie  in  that  direction.  Our  safety  lies  in  the 
prevalence  and  power  of  the  Christian  religion.  It 
was  this  that  nerved  our  fathers  for  their  different 
work,  and  made  them  equal  to  their  different  trials, 
and  enabled  them  to  lay  the  foundations  of  our  pros- 
perity. Nothing  else  can  preserve  what  they  trans- 
mitted and  carry  forward  what  they  began.  Our 
dangers  are  not  what  theirs  were,  but  they  are  as 
formidable,  and  more  subtle  and  treacherous,  and  no 
feebler  barrier  than  theirs  can  stand  against  degen- 
eracy, disruption  and  decay.  There  must  be  a  soul 
in  a  body,  or  the  body  cannot  live.  Religion  is  the 
soul  of  all  true  worldly  interests,  and  they  cannot 
thrive  without  it.  A  people  must  stand  on  a  level 
above  their  worldly  affairs,  or  their  worldly  affairs  go 
to  wreck.  There  must  be  a  moral  life,  a  soul's  life, 
a  spiritual  element,  an  infusion  of  other  than  animal 
energies — of  high  sentiments  and  heroic  activities, 
whose  springs  lie  deeper  in  our  being  than  the  goad- 
ings  of  mammon  or  the  expediencies  of  a  worldly 
policy.  There  must  be  these,  or  else  our  prosperity 
becomes  the  mire  in  which  we  shall  wallow,  till  we 
sink  in  it  and  deservedly  perish.  The  kingdoms  of 


18 

this  world  cannot  flourish,  unless  the  kingdom  of 
God  be  established  in  the  midst  of  them.  The  very 
principles  of  life,  and  the  elements  of  character, 
which  are  necessary  for  the  worldly  welfare  of  a 
State,  can  have  their  origin  and  nutriment  only  in 
those  living  and  earnest  convictions  that  take  hold  of 
things  higher  than  the  world. 

The  Legislature  of  our  State  find  their  chief  em- 
ployment in  regulating  and  carrying  forward  those 
interests  and  enterprises  of  the  people  which  have  in 
view  the  increase  and  the  uses  of  Property.  And 
rightly  so ;  it  is  the  sphere  of  our  Legislature.  The 
Government  has  nothing  to  do  directly  with  those 
higher  elements  by  which  alone  the  people  can  be 
blessed  in  their  worldly  pursuits.  But  if  Legisla- 
tors and  Magistrates  do  but  take  with  them,  and 
cherish  within  them  a  sober  sense  of  higher  interests 
than  those  which  they  have  visibly  to  deal  with,  and 
do  what  they  do  in  the  fear  of  God  and  in  the  man- 
ifest righteousness  of  a  Christian  heart  and  purpose, 
they  thereby  give  a  silent  but  effective  guarantee  to 
the  perpetuity  of  our  blessings,  and  the  continued 
prosperity  of  our  Commonwealth.  Legislators  and 
Magistrates,  like  all  other  men,  in  all  other  spheres, 
need  to  have  in  them  a  spirit  that  is  above  their  im- 
mediate work,  or  else  that  immediate  work  will  not 


19 

be  well   performed,  and  an  unsanctifying  influence 
mysteriously  accompanies  all  they  do. 

A  leading  interest  in  this  Commonwealth  is  the 
education  of  the  young.  The  Government  has  much 
to  do  with  it,  and  it  is  a  great  object  of  concern  with 
all  the  people.  There  is  no  such  thing  as  education 
in  the  true  sense  of  that  word,  without  moral  and 
spiritual  culture.  To  neglect  this  last,  while  we 
stimulate  and  train  the  intellect  of  a  child,  is  to 
commit  an  outrage  upon  that  child's  natural  rights, 
and  to  do  him  an  irreparable  wrong.  He  is  not  edu- 
cated. He  is  miseducated,  and  we  send  him  out 
into  life  with  a  mind  in  which  we  have  destroyed  the 
balance.  In  regard  to  our  Common  Schools,  I  be- 
lieve their  condition  has  been  greatly  improved  in 
these  late  years.  What 'the  Government  has  done 
in  their  behalf,  has  been  the  means,  directly  and  in- 
directly, of  creating  a  new  interest  in  their  prosper- 
ity, of  diffusing  much  new  light,  and  reproducing 
old  light  on  the  subject  of  education.  It  has  set  the 
people  to  thinking.  It  has  stimulated  and  guided 
towns  and  committees  in  their  duty.  Schoolhouse 
architecture  has  been  improved,  the  qualifications  of 
teachers  have  been  raised,  and  the  responsibility  of 


20 

parents  and  guardians  more  widely  recognized.  The 
very  controversies  that  have  arisen,  however  they 
may  terminate,  or  seem  to  terminate,  here  or  there, 
do  good.  They  are  signs  of  life ;  they  give  life. 
Light  comes  out  of  them,  and  truth,  and  improve- 
ment. Much,  I  say,  has  been  done.  And  now  the 
next  great  step,  which  we  should  look  for  in  the  im- 
provement of  our  schools,  is  a  more  distinct  recogni- 
tion of  the  moral  nature  of  a  child,  and  a  more 
direct  and  diligent  endeavor  to  develop,  guide  and 
train  his  higher  susceptibilities,  a  more  clear  recogni- 
tion of  the  fact  that  soul  is  the  chief  part  of  a  human 
being,  and  that  character  is  the  one  central  object  to 
which  all  other  things,  intellect,  knowledge  and  skill 
are  incidents,  great  and  essential,  but  subordinate 
parts  of  a  far  greater  whole.  A  more  moral  and 
Christian  culture  is  what  is  wanted  now. 

It  is  true,  that  the  laws,  most  wisely  beyond  ques- 
tion, have  prohibited  the  introduction  of  denomina- 
tional religious  instruction  into  the  Common  Schools. 
Let  that  law  stand  and  be  respected.  But,  aside 
from  denominational  differences,  there  is  a  whole 
world  of  moral  truth,  that  may  and  can  be  imparted 
to  the  child,  wakened  up  in  him,  developed,  guided, 
fostered,  and  made  the  basis,  the  very  atmosphere  of 
all  his  intellectual  activities  and  acquirements.  More 


21 

special  Christian  instructions  may  well  be  omitted  in 
the  Common  Schools,  because  in  them  children  are 
not  separated  from  the  influences  of  home.  They 
have  their  parents  for  their  religious  teachers,  or  such 
persons  as  their  parents  may  desire  to  be  their  guides 
in  spiritual  things. 

With  regard  to  our  higher  seminaries, — our  Col- 
leges, the  case  is  different.  They  are  communities 
in  themselves,  consisting  of  youths  removed  from 
home,  and  from  the  particular  religious  institutions 
with  which,  as  members  of  families,  they  may  have 
been  connected.  They,  with  their  teachers,  consti- 
tute a  society  of  their  own.  And  it  is  accordant  with 
all  the  ideas  and  practices  of  our  State,  as  a  Christian 
State,  that  Christian  institutions,  observances  and 
instruction,  be  fully  provided  for  and  maintained  in 
such  a  society.  This  matter  has  been  a  good  deal 
discussed  among  the  people  of  the  State,  with  refer- 
ence to  one  of  our  Colleges,  and  therefore  a  few 
general  remarks  on  the  subject  will  not  be  inappro- 
priate now.  In  this  Christian  Commonwealth,  it 
would  be  an  anomaly,  both  of  theory  and  practice, 
which  would  not  long  be  tolerated  by  the  people,  to 
have  a  society  of  the  young  gathered  anywhere  with- 
in its  borders,  and  no  provision  made  for  Christian 
observances  and  instruction  among  them.  Such  a 


22 

seminary  could  not  flourish,  it  could  not  live  in  Mas- 
sachusetts ;— far  distant  be  the  day  when  it  would  be 
tolerated.     But  difficulties  are  supposed  to  exist  aris- 
ing from  theological  differences  among  the  people  of 
the  State.     But  I  think  we  have  learned  how  to  set- 
tle those  difficulties.     Our   people,— thanks  to  that 
liberty  wherewith  Christ  has  made  us  free,  a  liberty 
which  our  brave  fathers  asserted  for  themselves  and 
their  posterity — our  people  judge  for  themselves  indi- 
vidually on  points  of  faith.     The  necessary  conse- 
quence is,  considerable  diversity  of  opinion  on  some 
disputable   subjects   connected  with   religion;    and 
hence  again,  various  denominations,  each  with  some 
theological    or   ecclesiastical    peculiarity.      This   is 
not  to  be  lamented.    It  is  a  condition  of  our  religious 
freedom,  and  it  does  not  necessarily  impair  the  real 
unity  of  the  Christian  church.     Controversies  neces- 
sarily arise.     They  ought  to  arise.     They  are  due 
to  our  convictions  of  truth.     The  spirit  of  them  may 
sometimes  be  bad,  and  that  is  to  be  lamented ;  but 
God  grant  that  we  may  never  arrive  at  such  pitch  of 
indifference,  as  that  any  points  connected  with  our 
religion,  shall   cease   to   be    subjects  of  discussion. 
Whatever  evil  there  is  in  such  denominational  di- 
visions as  exist  here,  is  growing  less  and  less.     We 
are  fast  learning  the  great  lesson  which  the  Christian 


23 

world  has  been  so  slow  to  learn — the  lesson  of  mu- 
tual toleration  and  respect.  We  are  learning,  amid 
all  our  differences  of  opinion,  to  live  together  in  peace 
and  harmony.  Persecution  is  quite  gone  bj.  De- 
nunciation grows  faint  and  rare.  The  people  have 
learned  that  sects,  which  appear  outwardly  to  differ 
most,  may  yet  stand  together,  and  do,  on  that  broad 
ground  of  Chistianity,  which  is  broad  enough  for 
them  all.  They  have  learned  that  the  sanctifying 
faith,  the  uplifting  piety,  and  the  practical  righteous- 
ness, which  constitute  the  essence  of  Christianity,  are 
confined  to  no  portion  of  the  diversified  whole, — to 
no  sect.  While,  therefore,  every  man,  who  has  any 
earnest  convictions,  believes  that  his  own  denomina- 
tion more  than  others  receives  in  its  purity  that  truth 
of  which  all  Christian  believers  have  a  share,  and  de- 
sires the  greater  prevalence  of  his  own,  which,  as  an 
honest  man  he  must,  he  has  learned  to  respect  all 
and  wish  well  to  all,  and  to  bid  them  all  God  speed 
in  whatever  they  intelligently  and  sincerely  do  and 
teach  in  the  name  of  Jesus  Christ.  Such,  in  the 
main,  are  the  Christian  people  of  Massachusetts. 
What,  then,  do  they  desire  and  demand  with  regard 
to  the  religious  character  of  such  institutions  as  our 
Colleges  ?  They  require,  first,  that  Christianity  be 
recognized  and  taught  in  them,  distinctly,  earnestly 


24 


inculcated— Christianity  in   some   form,  instead   of 
heathenism,  instead  of  Islamism,  instead  of  nothing. 
Each  man  would  prefer  that  Christianity  as  admin- 
istered  in  his   particular   denomination,    should  be 
taught  there,  if  it  could  be  properly.     But  he  knows 
that  cannot  be  in  all   cases,  for  that   others  have 
rights.     Every  man  knows,  too,  that  it  would  be  un- 
edifying  and  quite  inexpedient,  that  each   particular 
church  in  a  village  or  city  should  be  the  arena  on 
which  various  systems  should  be  brought  into  con- 
flict together.     This  would  be   fatal  to  religious  cul- 
ture and  to  social  peace.    It  is  nowhere  deemed  wise 
or  practicable,   certainly  not  in  a  college,  where  it 
would  produce  more  discord  and  mischief  than  any- 
where else.     There  is  then  but  one  course,  namely, 
for  the  rulers  of  each  college,  its  legitimate  rulers, 
those  who  by  regular  and  lawful  succession  in  the 
possession  of  corporate  powers,  are  for  the  time  be- 
ing charged  with  the  responsibility  of  managing  their 
several  institutions,  that  they  should  amply  provide 
Christian  observances  and  instruction,  and  of  course 
such   observances   and  instruction  as  they,  the  re- 
sponsible persons,  judge  to  be  most  accordant  with 
Gospel  truth  and  order.     They  must  provide  such, 
if  any.     They  cannot,  as   honest   men,* provide  any 
other.     And  if  other  persons,  not  intrusted  with  the 


25 

Jawful  power,  and  not  charged  with  the  responsibil- 
ity, assume  to  do  it,  then  the  fundamental  principles 
of  our  civil  polity  are  subverted,  and  there  remains 
no  security  for  any  civil  rights,  nor  guarantee  for  any 
civil  duties. 

The  people  understand  this  matter.  The  form  of 
Christianity  to  be  taught  in  any  college,  they  expect 
to  have  determined,  they  cheerfully  leave  to  be  de- 
termined, by  its  lawful  and  responsible  guardians. 
They  expect  nothing  else — they  know  there  is  no 
other  way.  But  they  do  demand,  with  the  united 
voice  of  a  Christian  State,  that  some  Christianity  be 
taught,  the  Christianity  of  some  denomination, — not 
controversially,  not  intolerantly,  not  with  a  narrow 
and  proselyting  spirit,  not  thus  in  a  college,  by  any 
means  ;  but  the  Christianity  of  some  denomination, 
because  there  is  no  defined  Christianity  separate  from 
denominational  character.  They  demand  a  Christi- 
anity which  embodies  the  principles  of  piety  and  vir- 
tue, and  makes  them  elements  of  character.  The 
people  ask  no  more  than  this  ;  but  this  they  do  ask, 
and  will  demand,  as  long  as  they  partake  of  the  spirit 
of  the  Fathers,  and  maintain  their  allegiance  to  the 
Gospel  of  Christ.  If,  therefore,  there  shall  ever 
arise,  on  the  part  of  the  responsible  rulers  of  any 
of  our  colleges,  a  disposition  to  turn  Christianity  out 
4 


26 

altogether,  or  to  sink  Christian  observances  and  in- 
structions out  of  their  system,  or  to  make  them  as 
invisible  and  inoperative  as  possible,  in  the  vain  hope 
of  conciliating  and  satisfying  all  denominations,  they 
will  commit  a  fatal  error.  They  will  conciliate  and 
satisfy  no  portion  of  a  Chistian  community.  They 
will  repel  all  Chistian  denominations,  their  own 
among  the  rest.  Heathenism  or  atheism  will  not 
please  any  portion  of  Christian  Massachusetts.  And 
if  such  neutral  measures  should  ever  be  adopted  or 
approached,  or  covertly  slid  into,  with  regard  to  any 
of  our  colleges,  they  must  assuredly  bring  upon  that 
college  the  distrust  of  its  friends,  the  exultant  con- 
tempt of  its  enemies,  if  it  have  any  enemies,  and  the 
indignation  of  the  whole  Christian  people.  It  be- 
longs to  every  Christian  citizen,  whether  in  a  public 
or  a  private  station,  to  watch  against  such  measures, 
and,  if  occasion  should  ever  arise,  to  protest  against 
them,  in  the  name  of  our  common  Christianity,  and 
in  the  name  of  the  Christian  founders  and  fathers  of 
our  colleges  and  of  our  Commonwealth. 

Thus  far,  we  have  considered  only  the  connexion 
of  Christianity  with  the  local  and  internal  interests 
of  Massachusetts.  But  Massachusetts  is  a  member 
of  a  great  Confederacy,  and  I  must  take  a  few  mo- 


27 

ments  to  speak  of  her  Christian  character  and  duty 
in  that  relation.  This  State,  I  believe  it  is  no  boast- 
ing to  say,  has  always  had  an  influence  in  the  Union 
beyond  the  proportion  of  her  size  and  population. 
If  so,  it  is  her  weight  of  character  that  has  given  her 
that  influence.  And  that  character  has  been  emi- 
nently of  a  Christian  stamp  and  growth.  May  she 
always  maintain  that  influence,  and  may  she  under- 
stand, and  may  her  statesmen  understand,  that  she 
can  maintain  it  only  by  maintaining  the  same 
character,  the  same  in  its  fruits,  and  the  same  in 
its  root.  She  sends  her  statesmen  to  speak  for 
her  and  act  for  her  in  the  councils  of  a  great  na- 
tion. She  desires  them  hereafter,  as  hitherto,  to 
represent  her  as  a  Christian  State,  and  to  do  all  and 
say  all  in  accordance  with  the  principles  of  that  reli- 
gion which  has  ever  been  her  strength  and  her  glory, 
both  at  home  and  abroad.  If  evil  be  conceived  there, 
it  is  for  them  in  her  name  to  resist  it ;  if  good,  in  her 
name  to  forward  its  accomplishment.  If  in  the  Na- 
tional Congress,  in  whose  doings  our  destinies  are  so 
deeply  involved,  there  should  be  manifested  a  spirit 
unfavorable  to  the  preservation  of  international  peace, 
let  it  meet  a  rebuke  from  at  least  one  State  protest- 
ing against  it  on  the  Christian  ground  of  that  com- 
mon humanity,  that  Christian  brotherhood  which 


28 

recognizes  all  nations  as  of  one  blood,  and  of  one 
Father,  and  one  destiny.  If  the  war  cry  must  be 
raised,  let  no  voice  from  Christian  Massachusetts  so 
belie  its  home  as  to  swell  that  infernal  chorus.  If 
the  dogs  of  war  must  be  let  loose,  let  no  hand  of 

O  ' 

ours  lend  itself  to  unleash  the  monsters.  If  the  bonds 
of  amity  which  unite  us  in  mutual  beneficence  to  a 
friendly  nation,  must  be  broken — which  we  both 
deprecate  and  disbelieve — let  it  not  be  with  the  con- 
sent or  connivance  of  any  falsely  acting  in  behalf  of 
this  Christian  Commonwealth.  If  there  is  enough 
of  folly  and  madness  in  the  country  to  produce  war, 
or  if  a  righteous  Providence  sees  that  the  nation 
needs  the  chastening  of  that  terrible  scourge  in  retri- 
bution of  its  sins,  and  if  the  miseries  of  war  must 
come  upon  us,  we  can  bear  with  fortitude  our  share 
of  the  dreadful  consequences,  but  we  cannot  afford 
to  participate  in  the  guilt  in  advance. 

Again,  as  to  that  most  fearful  stain  that  rests  upon 
our  national  fame — Slavery.  In  these  days  of  light, 
when  the  bad  principles  and  tendencies  of  that  insti- 
tution have  become  so  obvious  to  the  eyes  of  the 
whole  Christian  world,  it  cannot  be  that  Massachu- 
setts will  ever  lend  her  aid  by  word  or  deed  to  pro- 
mote its  extension  or  continuance,  or  forbear  to  resist 


29 

its  encroachments,  and  by  any  lawful  and  righteous 
means  to  speed  the  time  when  all  its  wrongs  and 
woes  may  cease  out  of  the  land.  While  the  Consti- 
tution endures — and  long  may  it  endure  for  the  sake 
of  its  inestimable  benefits  ! — let  its  compromises  and 
compacts,  to  which  we  are  pledged,  be  strictly  re- 
spected by  our  statesmen  and  our  people.  But 
whenever,  in  the  unknown  counsels  of  the  future,  the 
monstrous  purpose  shall  be  conceived  of  spreading 
the  evil  over  new  regions,  to  which  it  was  not  origi- 
nally guarantied,  and  extending  the  national  counte- 
nance, protection  and  powerful  hand  of  fellowship 
to  foreign  states,  in  whose  breast  that  institution  is 
rooted  or  to  be  rooted,  then  may  Massachusetts  be 
found  possessing  still  enough  of  Christian  principle 
to  place  her  firmly  on  the  side  of  freedom,  justice 
and  humanity.  Hereafter,  as  heretofore,  let  her  voice 
be  heard  in  the  halls  of  Congress,  in  her  own  Leg- 
islative halls,  and  throughout  the  length  and  breadth 
of  her  domain,  in  calm  and  unyielding  resistance, 
resisting  unto  the  end,  faithful  found  among  the  faith- 
less, bearing  evil  if  she  must,  but  doing  it  never. 

And  as  to  the  institution  of  slavery  generally, 
while  we  are  restrained  from  all  direct  and  active 
interference,  except  such  as  the  maintenance  of  our 
own  legal  rights  may  require,  there  is  a  power  of 


30 

public  opinion  in  the  expression  of  moral  principles 
and  Christian  sympathies  and  patriotic  aspiration — 
a  power,  the  exercise  of  which,  is  the  inalienable 
birthright  and  sacred  duty  of  all  free  minds  through 
the  world — and  which  Massachusetts  owes  it  to  her 
own  Christian  name  and  to  the  cause  of  universal 
truth  and  right,  to  exercise  soberly,  charitably,  yet 
firmly,  whenever  and  wherever  her  voice  may  be 
heard  or  her  influence  be  felt. 

I  must  pass  by  many  topics  connected  with  my 
general  subject.  All  topics  relating  to  the  wel- 
fare of  our  Commonwealth,  are  connected  with 
it ;  for  all  her  interests,  her  powers  and  duties  are 
identified  with  that  character  which  she  owes  to  her 
Christian  parentage  and  training.  She  recognizes 
no  ecclesiastical  power,  but  she  recognizes  Religion 
as  the  root  of  all  her  power.  She  knows  no  politi- 
cal connexion  between  Church  and  State,  neither 
does  she  know  how  to  flourish,  or  to  be  at  all  as  a 
State,  without  religion.  Religion  wants  no  State 
patronage,  but  the  State  wants  religious  influence, 
as  the  very  breath  of  her  life.  Whenever  she  shall 
come  down  from  her  high  Christian  estate,  and  dis- 
own her  baptismal  vows,  then — look  at  her  history, 
look  at  her  position,  and  acknowledge  it — then,  her 


31 

prosperity  will  become  disease,  her  trumpet  voice  of 
truth  and  right  will  be  hushed,  her  horn  of  power 
will  be  broken,  and  all  her  glory  departed.  Let  it 
not  be.  Men  and  brethren,  Rulers  and  Lawgiv- 
ers, let  it  not  be.  Thou  God  of  our  fathers,  let  it 
not  be ! 

To  the  Chief  Magistrate  of  the  Commonwealth, 
and  to  all  his  honored  associates  in  the  Executive 
and  the  Legislative  branches  of  the  Government, 
I  commend  these  views,  in  the  well  assured  confi- 
dence, that  in  so  far  as  I  may  have  truly  expressed 
the  relation  of  the  Christian  character  of  the  State 
to  its  civil  and  secular  interests,  I  shall  have  their 
sympathy  and  concurrence.  And  I  unite  with  them 
in  the  humble  prayer,  that  God  may  guide  them  in 
their  responsible  labors,  and  bestow  the  blessings  of 
his  Providence  and  the  riches  of  his  grace  on  the 
people  of  our  beloved  Commonwealth. 


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